


21 days

by GeneralHuxNeedsRest



Category: Discworld - Terry Pratchett
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, F/M, M/M, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-08 22:09:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15253089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeneralHuxNeedsRest/pseuds/GeneralHuxNeedsRest
Summary: “Good morning,” he said, “you are looking especially fresh and alert this morning.”“Sometimes, I wish I have never met you.” Sam sat up, trying to get rid of the water trickling from his hair into his eyes. “You make my life living hell.”Vetinari chuckled and put the now empty glass on the bedside table. “I dragged you out of the gutter, remember.”





	1. Holiday

**Author's Note:**

> This is a modern au where everything is the same, except Havelock is not a Patrician, but a mayor. He also lives with Sybil and Vimes and they are all happy together. 
> 
> Also, I am not a native speaker, so I apologize for errors.

“We need to force Havelock to take a holiday,” said Sybil one morning while Sam was drinking his coffee, tired, bleary eyed, not really paying attention to what she was saying. So he just nodded.  
“At least a month long,” Sybil continued and only then Sam realized what she was saying and spluttered his coffee everywhere.  
“No! Ugh...I mean...I am pretty sure that we should just let him do whatever he likes.”   
Sybil put her hands on her hips and looked at Sam with an expression which made him look for cover.   
“Sam,” she began, “Havelock is your friend. You should always have his best interest in heart!”  
!I do have his best interest in heart,” Sam answered, “and his best interest is to just let him do his job as he likes. You know how he gets when he has nothing to do.”  
A silence took over the kitchen as both its occupant remembered the last time Havelock Vetinari was forced to let the city be run only by his clerks. It ended up with a wild chase across the roofs and a swim in the river Ankh.   
“He gets a little bored,” Sybil admitted hesitantly.   
Sam snorted. “A little bored? He gets insufferable! He is an arrogant bastard, Sybil! The last time, he made up a plot to overthrow himself just because he had nothing to do! How am I supposed to know which ones are real and which ones are just his pastimes!”  
“The clever ones are his, we already talked about it, Sam.”  
“Please, Sybil. He will force me to play chess with him. Or worse, he will try to teach me to play better.”  
It was all in vain. When Sybil made a decision, there was nothing that could stand in her way. Standing in Sybil’s way was considered extremely dangerous. Not even Havelock dared to try. 

“I am doing what?”  
“Taking a holiday.”   
Vetinari blinked and tilted his head slightly. “And do you have someone willing and capable of running the intricate clockwork of Ankh-Morpork in my absence?”  
Sybil waved her hand. “Oh, don’t you worry, Havelock. I am pretty sure that me and Rufus will do just fine. Besides, it will be just for a month.”   
Sam wasn’t sure, but it seemed to him that Vetinari paled and tensed. Not that he wasn’t already pale before, of course. Bastard.   
“A month?” he repeated, tapping a finger against his chin. “That is...quite some time. What about two weeks?”  
“Three weeks and maybe I will let you read some nice report before bed.”   
“Hm. And what do you suggest I do with this time?”  
“Oooh, I am pretty sure that you and Sam will think of some nice activities to do together.”   
Sam almost choked. “Oh, but I will be at work.”  
Sybil smiled innocently. “Oh, no, you won’t. I went to see Carrot yesterday and we talked about your holiday as well.”   
Vetinari let out a sigh. “Well, Samuel,” he said, “it seems that we had been played. Maybe we could use that time to finally improve your chess skills, what do you think?”  
Sybil giggled.


	2. Day One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is the first day of their holiday and Havelock is bored.

Day 1

Havelock woke up at five thirty am, which was half an hour later than he woke up on his working day. Sam knew because after doing that he made sure to wake up Sam as well.   
To say that Samuel was pissed was an understatement of the century. He was enraged. Unless he didn’t have to, he always enjoyed sleeping in and there was nothing better than being gently (or not so gently) awakened by the burnt smell of Sybil’s cooking.   
A jug of water in the face was definitely not welcome.   
“What the fuck, Havelock?”  
Havelock Vetinari, the mayor and de facto only ruler of Ankh-Morpork, the most dangerous man in the radius of hundreds of miles who was rumoured to have killed several people on his way to the top[ That was actually true, Havelock DID kill people. He used to be (or still was?) an assassin and it was his job to do the dirty work for whoever asked him - and paid. However, none of those people were killed in order to get an advantage in his career. Well, maybe one, the old mayor, also known as Homicidal Lord Winder, but Havelock never actually touched him. It was not his fault that the old man had a weird fear of mysterious young men clad in black, appearing out of nowhere. ], had cracked him a smile.   
“Good morning,” he said, “you are looking especially fresh and alert this morning.”   
“Sometimes, I wish I have never met you.” Sam sat up, trying to get rid of the water trickling from his hair into his eyes. “You make my life living hell.”  
Vetinari chuckled and put the now empty glass on the bedside table. “I dragged you out of the gutter, remember.”   
“And I would be eternally grateful for that, if you only would not be waking me up by throwing water on my head at the ass of dawn.”   
“Ts, ts, Samuel. I never noticed you being so eloquent in the morning before. Perhaps I should tell Sybil that all that’s needed is a glass of ice cold water?”  
“Fuck off.”  
Havelock stood up. “Get dressed, Samuel. We have a lot to do!”

“Lot to do” translated as mowing the lawn, pulling out weed from Sybil’s flower beds[ This one turned out to be rather unfortunate; Havelock told Sam to take care of it while he went inside, only for a moment, to put a kettle on; by the time he came back, Samuel already pulled out several rare, foreign and obviously rather expensive flowers he mistook for weeds. Havelock was not happy.], vacuuming and deep cleaning the whole house, re-organizing the titles in their extensive library according to the alphabet and finally cooking a full-course, posh dinner at the end of the day.   
Samuel was exhausted and he wanted to punch Havelock in the face, but at the same time, he was rather put out of balance seeing him dressed not in his usual suit, but in a loose, black t-shirt and tight pants[ Also black, in case you were wondering; Sam never understood what it was with that man and black colour.]. It was not that he has not seen him in anything else than a suit before; he did. They lived together, after all. He saw him wearing a ridiculous pyjamas with flamingos, which was a gift from Sybil, he saw him in a a ridiculous robes, juggling watermelons and knives, and, of course, he also saw him wearing nothing.   
While the last outfit was definitely his favourite, he could not deny that he looked...especially hot that evening.   
Maybe it was due to the fact that it was some time since he saw him in anything else than a suit or the fact that they had spend the whole day bickering.   
“Are you well, Samuel? You seem a little bit zoned out.”  
Oh, yes, the way he held the knife and chopped the vegetables, leaning against the counter...  
Well, fuck it. 

When Sybil returned, late at night, she just chuckled, threw a spare blanket over Havelock’s bare feet and decided that she will have to step in like that more often.


	3. Day Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get out of hand.

Day 2

“Checkmate.” Havelock Vetinari moved his queen and there was nothing that Sam could do. He probably could have done something ten moves ago, when he was still in possession of his queen, both rooks and a knight, but now? The game was definitely over.   
“You bastard,” ha said. “You enjoy this, you smug asshole!”  
Vetinari flashed him a little smile and began to place the black and white figures into their positions.   
“Do you want a rematch, Vimes?” Vetinari dared to ask and Samuel just glared at him.   
It was noon and, surprisingly, Vetinari didn’t do much that day; it was raining since the early morning hours, which put every work in the garden out of question and they had already cleaned the house yesterday.   
Normally, Sam would be happy for that, if only he’d be left alone; however, Havelock decided that it was time for chess.  
They played five times already and Sam lost every single game.  
Apart from that, it looked like a slow day.   
After placing both armies into their starting positions, Havelock Vetinari stood up and took a random, leather bound book from the bookcase and gracefully draped himself across a black armchair next to the window. Before burying himself in the book, he raised an eyebrow and regarded puzzled Sam with a Look.   
“Was that an invitation?” Sam asked.   
Vetinari regarded him with another Look. “I do not know what you mean, Samuel.” And he returned to his book.   
Sam narrowed his eyes, trying to read the name of the book. It didn’t seem to be written in any language he knew.   
“Do not let me detain you, Sam,” Havelock said in an uninterested tone. “I believe that you had some plans of your own for the duration of your holiday, did you not?”   
“Oh. Oh, yes, of course. Like sleeping in which I am not allowed thanks to certain someone.” He glared at the dark haired man as hard as he could, but to no avail. Havelock was reading.   
Or at least he was pretending to read. 

Havelock did not emerge from the library for the rest of the day; he skipped the lunch, which Vimes painstakingly prepared (or burned) himself and didn’t react to his calls and knocks on the door.   
Which was locked.   
It was not unlike Havelock to lock himself in the library for long periods of time (when he had time and wasn’t busy running the city) so Sam was not concerned. At least not at first.   
He spend the evening the in living room, watching TV, switching channels aimlessly, wondering if Havelock was learning another obscure, dead language just for fun and to show everyone how much better he is.  
He’s lost track of time (and well, maybe, just maybe, he had a nap which was responsible for it) and suddenly, it was getting dark outside and he heard Sybil at the door, fumbling with keys, calling for them.   
It took him a moment to process the words, though.   
“Sam? Havelock? Why is the library window wide open?”   
Sam’s smile froze on his face.   
“Open?” he asked. “Havelock was in the library.” For half of the day. With the locked door.   
“Oh, shit.” 

Sybil wanted to look for spare key, but Sam’s patience ran thin, so he just kicked the door open[ He had a lot of experience with kicking the door open. He was a cop, after all. ] and then stood in the middle of the empty library, staring at the window.   
The black armchair was empty, save for the leather bound book carefully placed in its middle.   
Havelock was nowhere to be seen.   
Sybil covered her mouth to stifle a cry. “Do you think that someone kidnapped him?” she asked.  
Sam shook his head. “No signs of fight. And certainly no blood of the poor fucker that would be stupid enough to lay his hands on Vetinari. You know how he gets.”   
Sybil nodded. She remember the pen incident from three years earlier. It was a very nice, posh pen she gave Havelock as a birthday gift. The doctors managed to extract it from the would-be-murderer’s chest, but the inkflow was never the same again.   
“He probably decided to take a walk across the rooftops again,” Sam growled, hoping that he was right. “He will probably be back by the morning.” He didn’t believe his own words.   
They stood there for a while, looking out into the darkening summer night. It was still drizzling slightly and it was getting more and more chilly.   
“But why would he lock the door,” Sam thought out loud, “and it’s been some time. He would be back by now.”   
Sybil took the book and looked at it for a while, puzzled.   
“Sam?” she asked. “Where did we get this book from?”  
“You don’t know?” Sam was confused. “Vetinari just took it from the bookcase.”   
Sybil opened it at held it wordlessly in front of Sam.   
He paled.  
It was not really a book - it was more like a box, disguised to look like a book. Inside, there was an empty compartment designed to hold two blades and a yellow post it note with an address.


End file.
